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OOM #10 – Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed (1969)

My final day in Valdivia! And there’s still three Frankenstein Hammer films to visit. I hope that I can write this one quickly, big day at the festival today! I’ll be seeing the movie I looked forward the most. Anyway, back to what’s important, the horror, the horror, the horror! ‘Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed’ (1969) is today’s movie, and you can watch the video review of James Rolfe right here, and you can read my review below.

I have really short time to write this review. The film is a slight step down from the sequels directed by Terence Fisher, as it finds itself more comfortable by having Baron Frankenstein in the center, but not that doing that is wrong, but actually putting his search for new knowledge as the main point of the plot is kinda weak, specially when we know how powerful he already is. Besides that, this film contains the most nefarious and unliked rape scene (Cushing and the actress were embarrased and said sorry to each other for doing this scene) involving the Doctor. Then, there’s the whole thing about how I didn’t liked the creature that was put forward this time, it seemed a bit convoluted the whole process that they went through to make the new monster appear in the plot, there’s a doctor that has some knowledge, but he’s insane, but he also has a heart attack, so his brain must be transferred and then his brain operated to make it better, but that obviously goes wrong, hence we have our creature.

It’s kinda boring to say that the film has a creature that doesn’t really do anything. He wants revenge, sure, and in the end of the film we can see the extent of his strength as well as will power, but also the creature doesn’t wreak havoc in the streets nor attacks anyone but one person, and that is just weak for a movie taht it’s about monsters that are scary and try to kill people. Even though I seem to be extremely negative, the film is actually quite good at many points, specially when it’s about the process before the plot even begins: a head is cut off, a fight ensues, blood and gust everywhere, just classy stuff that makes up for the lack of later violence in the film (one could wonder that this was the reason for all the blood in the starting minutes, maybe a studio indictment?).

The acting from Cushing is superb, even in the rape sequence, making it one of the most disturbing pieces that he ever acted in his life. The problems of this film are slight when compared to many other horror movies, this one just lacks a bit of a punch, but it maintains the master style of Fisher that has earned him a spot as a master of horror, building up the tension and the momentum with experiments, plans, blackmail, as if it were more like an espionage flick than one to scare you, but it works, and it’s recommendable for those who already are way into the Frankenstein Hammer series, it’s one I wouldn’t miss.

Amicus Productions: Horror-Scifi

Dr. Terror's House of Horrors (1965)
The Skull (1965)
Dr. Who and the Daleks (1965)
The Psychopath (1966)
Dalek's Invasion Earth: 2150 A.D. (1966)
The Terrornauts (1967)
The Deadly Bees (1967)
They Came from Beyond Space (1967)
Torture Garden (1967)
The Mind of Mr. Soames (1970)
The House That Dripped Blood (1971)
I, Monster (1971)
Tales from the Crypt (1972)
What Became of Jack and Jill? (1972)Asylum (1972)
The Vault of Horror (1973)-- And Now the Screaming Starts! (1973)
From Beyond the Grave (1974)
Madhouse (1974)
The Beast Must Die (1974)
The Land That Time Forgot (1975)
At the Earth's Core (1976)
The People That Time Forgot (1977)
The Monster Club (1981)

Hammer Pictures: Horror-Fantasy-Sci Fi

The Mystery of the Marie Celeste (1935)
Man in Black (1949)
Dick Barton Strikes Back (1949)
Dick Barton at Bay (1950)
Four Sided Triangle (1953)
Spaceways (1953)
The Quatermass Xperiment (1955)
X: The Unknown (1956)The Curse of Frankenstein (1957)
Quatermass 2 (1957)
The Abominable Snowman (1957)
Tales of Frankenstein (1958)Dracula (1958)The Revenge of Frankenstein (1958)
The Hound of the Baskervilles (1959)
The Man Who Could Cheat Death (1959)
The Mummy (1959)
The Stranglers of Bombay (1960)The Brides of Dracula (1960)
The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll (1960)
The Terror of the Tongs (1961)
Taste of Fear (1961)
The Curse of the Werewolf (1961)
Shadow of the Cat (1961)
Captain Clegg (1962)
The Phantom of the Opera (1962)
Paranoiac (1963)
The Damned (1963)
Maniac (1963)
The Kiss of the Vampire (1963)
The Old Dark House (1963)
Nightmare (1964)
The Evil of Frankenstein (1964)
The Gorgon (1964)
The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb (1964)
Fanatic (1965)
She (1965)
The Nanny (1965)
The Plague of the Zombies (1966)Dracula: Prince of Darkness (1966)
The Reptile (1966)
Rasputin: The Mad Monk (1966)
The Witches (1966)
One Million Years B.C. (1966)
Slave Girls (1967)
The Mummy's Shroud (1967)
Frankenstein Created Woman (1967)
Quatermass and the Pit (1967)
Journey to Midnight (1968)
Journey into Darkness (1968)
The Vengeance of She (1968)
The Lost Continent (1968)
The Devil Rides Out (1968)
"Journey to the Unknown" (1968)Dracula Has Risen from the Grave (1968)
Frankenstein Must be Destroyed (1969)
Moon Zero Two (1969)Taste the Blood of Dracula (1970)
Crescendo (1970)
The Vampire Lovers (1970)
When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth (1970)
The Horror of Frankenstein (1970)Scars of Dracula (1970)
Lust for a Vampire (1971)
Countess Dracula (1971)
Creatures the World Forgot (1971)
Twins of Evil (1971)
Blood from the Mummy's Tomb (1971)
Hands of the Ripper (1971)
Dr Jekyll & Sister Hyde (1971)
Vampire Circus (1972)Dracula A.D. 1972 (1972)
Straight on Till Morning (1972)
Fear in the Night (1972)
Demons of the Mind (1972)The Satanic Rites of Dracula (1973)
Captain Kronos - Vampire Hunter (1974)
Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell (1974)The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires (1974)
To the Devil a Daughter (1976)
"Hammer House of Horror" (1980)
"Hammer House of Mystery and Suspense" (1984)
Flesh and Blood: The Hammer Heritage of Horror (1984)
Beyond the Rave (2008)
Let Me In (2010)The Resident (2011)